Publication Date

Abstracting the Unknown

This presentation considers what we know about software architecture, and then considers the systems that will stretch us both technically, socially, and ethically.

Publisher: Software Engineering Institute

This presentation was created for a conference series or symposium and does not necessarily reflect the positions and views of the Software Engineering Institute.

Abstract

There are many systems that we know how to architect
(usually because we’ve built them many times before).
There also many systems for which we know a process
that will lead us to a reasonable architecture (usually
because the forces on our project permit incremental
and iterative development). There are even some things
we know how not to architect (because we’ve tried
before). However, there are some systems for which we
hardly know where to begin (because not only are they
wickedly hard, they are also far beyond our current art
and science). These are the classes of systems that most
interest me: how do we architect the unknown? In this
presentation, we’ll start by laying a foundation of what we
know we know about software architecture, and then we’ll
consider what we know we don’t know. Following that,
we’ll take a leap into the unknown and look at the kinds of
systems that will stretch us both technically, socially, and
ethically.